Today in History

Today is Friday, Sept. 26, the 269th day of 2014. There are 96 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 26, 1789, Thomas Jefferson was confirmed by the Senate to be the first United States secretary of state; John Jay, the first chief justice; Edmund Randolph, the first attorney general.

On this date:

In 1777, British troops occupied Philadelphia during the American Revolution.

In 1892, John Philip Sousa and his newly formed band performed publicly for the first time, at the Stillman Music Hall in Plainfield, New Jersey.

In 1914, the Federal Trade Commission was established. Fitness guru Jack LaLanne was born in San Francisco.

In 1918, the Meuse-Argonne offensive, resulting in an Allied victory against the Germans, began during World War I.

In 1933, the James Hilton novel "Lost Horizon" was first published in London by Macmillan & Co. Ltd. and in New York by William Morrow & Co.

In 1937, the radio drama "The Shadow," starring Orson Welles, premiered on the Mutual Broadcasting System.

In 1954, the Japanese commercial ferry Toya Maru sank during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait, claiming more than 1,150 lives.

In 1960, the first-ever debate between presidential nominees took place in Chicago as Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon faced off before a national TV audience.

In 1964, the situation comedy "Gilligan's Island" premiered on CBS-TV.

In 1986, William H. Rehnquist was sworn in as the 16th chief justice of the United States, while Antonin Scalia joined the Supreme Court as its 103rd member.

In 1990, the Motion Picture Association of America announced it had created a new rating, NC-17, to replace the X rating.

In 1991, four men and four women began a two-year stay inside a sealed-off structure in Oracle, Arizona, called Biosphere 2. (They emerged from Biosphere on this date in 1993.)

Ten years ago: Hurricane Jeanne struck near Stuart, Florida, with 120 mph winds, resulting in five U.S. deaths. Pakistani forces killed Amjad Hussain Farooqi, a suspected top al-Qaida operative wanted for his alleged role in the 2002 kidnapping and beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Israel assassinated Izz Eldine Subhi Sheik Khalil, a Palestinian militant from Hamas, with a car bomb in Damascus, Syria.

Five years ago: Film director Roman Polanski was arrested by Swiss police on an international warrant as he arrived in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award from a film festival. (Polanski had fled the U.S. in 1978, a year after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl. Polanski spent two months in a Swiss jail and served seven months of house arrest before Switzerland's government decided against extraditing him to the United States.) Pope Benedict XVI began a three-day pilgrimage to the Czech Republic.

One year ago: It was revealed that some workers at the National Security Agency had misused the government's secret surveillance systems at least 12 times over the previous decade, including instances where they spied on spouses, boyfriends or girlfriends, according to embarrassing new details disclosed by the agency's inspector general. The U.S. and its international partners emerged from a U.N. meeting with Iran declaring a "window of opportunity" had opened to peacefully settle their nuclear standoff. Bud Selig announced plans to retire as baseball commissioner in January 2015.

Today's Birthdays: Retired baseball All-Star Bobby Shantz is 89. Actor Philip Bosco is 84. Actress Donna Douglas is 82. Actor Richard Herd is 82. South African nationalist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is 78. Country singer David Frizzell is 73. Actor Kent McCord is 72. Television host Anne Robinson is 70. Singer Bryan Ferry is 69. Actress Mary Beth Hurt is 68. Singer Lynn Anderson is 67. Singer Olivia Newton-John is 66. Actor James Keane is 62. Rock singer-musician Cesar Rosas (Los Lobos) is 60. Country singer Carlene Carter is 59. Actress Linda Hamilton is 58. Country singer Doug Supernaw is 54. Rhythm-and-blues singer Cindy Herron (En Vogue) is 53. Actress Melissa Sue Anderson is 52. Actor Patrick Bristow is 52. Rock musician Al Pitrelli is 52. Singer Tracey Thorn (Everything But The Girl) is 52. TV personality Jillian Barberie is 48. Contemporary Christian guitarist Jody Davis (Newsboys) is 47. Actor Jim Caviezel is 46. Actor Ben Shenkman is 46. Singer Shawn Stockman (Boyz II Men) is 42. Jazz musician Nicholas Payton is 41. Actor Mark Famiglietti is 35. Singer-actress Christina Milian is 33. Tennis player Serena Williams is 33.

Thought for Today: "A child educated only at school is an uneducated child." -- George Santayana, American philosopher (born 1863, died this date in 1952).

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